YEREVAN -- A leading Armenian opposition group has told RFE/RL's Armenian Service that the proposed Turkish-Armenian "road map" for normalizing relations is "meaningless" until the country's human rights abuses are addressed and the text of any agreement is made public.

Levon Zurabian, a leading member of the Armenian National Congress (HAK), added in remarks on that Armenian officials lack a popular mandate for opening diplomatic relations with Turkey.

He said that opposition groups have "serious reasons" to think Ankara is flirting with Turkish reconciliation so that the West will "turn a blind eye" to the country's human rights record, particularly its imprisonment of dozens of opposition activists.

Zurabian said what he described as Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian's conciliatory Turkey policy is the "first sign" that the "regime is not viable" politically, as evidenced by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation announcement on April 27 that it will leave the government because of the policy.